Machine for breaking up cartons



May 14, 1946. M. RustH MACHINE FOR BREAKING UP. CARTNS Filed March 4, 1944 ATTORNEY This invention irelat Y ing up 'large 'pieces 'of pasteb'oard "andpa'steboard Patented May 14,` 1946 ,Y 21400363 1 fciteren;Rmx-1:1 our cinemasv toA machines for; breakcartcns for;salvager and in preparation for 'reuse the usfd lcartc'in"s iraveA discarded 'or Y "as worthlessi'afterthecontents haveib'een 'ewlirigltef searcitylef inltmr"iai 'for' peser" stdreto manufacture cartons, attempts havebeenfnrade toere'usefsuchfpreused material, but the bulkiness thereof prevented yits profitable shipment to factories or centers. Attempts have also been made to compress the oldA cartons into bales but the.

many open spaces between the parts have con- Numeral :5 represents base' .for aV hopper vframe and this Amay be Ta, part' Tof any Aordinary isieft open forjanorwavfor the entrance cffnratenai, toL be' broken. ,A inner" rfwan 1:2 .is

downward e ointjspaced fromthe endrs t'o leaveanrcpening vfor a' chute -fs lfordisehar'ge of theb'roken fragments; such tinued to prevent sufficient consolidation for ecoi n nomic shipment, as only a fraction of weight sufficient for carload could be packed in railway cars.

It is important therefore that the used cartons be reduced to fragments for packing and also in order that acid solution may permeate parts and render the material into suitable pulpfor reuse.

Further attempts have been made to cut the cartons into pieces with knives or cutting blades but it has been impossible to maintain the edges in continued sharpened condition when used on old cartons. It is also important that the edges of sheets of cardboard andv carton parts should be cracked and the parts broken in order to absorb the chemicals for reduction.V

It is therefore among the objects of this invention to provide a machine whereby large car-` tons and sheets of cardboard may be'rapidly broken into small fragments and also crushed so that the broken material may be compactly pressed into heavy balesL for shipment and such parts simultaneously shattered for receiving acids and solutions for reduction into pulp.

After repeated experiments with various constructions of machines including the use of oppostely positioned teeth set closely together,l

which proved ineifective and inoperative for the purposes desired I have invented a simple and easily constructed machine with a revolving cyl-` inder or drum with arms widely spaced thereon and abutments combined for breaking the cartons into suitable fragments and suitably shattered both for packing and reduction t pulp for paper stock for new cartons;`

I `have illustratively shown my invention by the accompanying drawing of which Figure 1 is a vertical section view, and Figure 2 is a top plan view taken -on lines 2-2 of Figure 1.

wall being for the purpose of feeding and supporting the materials described,

Numeral I4 represents a drum or cylinder with closure ends I5 rigidly mounted on an axle or shaft I6. This shaft is extended through the drum and outward at both ends through the sides of the hopper and are there rotatably mounted in journal boxes II and I8 which are respectively supported on suitable foundations indicated as I9 and 20. Any desired form of pulley as 2| mayv be affixed to one end of the shaft for rotating the drum, to be driven by any suitable source of power, orthe shaft may be driven by direct contact or connection with a shaft from a motor.

Spaced apart at suitable distances in staggered or spiral relation around the drum are arms 22, 23, 24 and 25. With a drum 12 inches in diameter and 3 feet in length it has been found that four arms as indicated will give best results when spaced apart approximately 9 inches axially along the cylinder and in staggered relation one after the other around a cylinder so that they will severally succeed each other in striking the material when the cylinder is rotated.

Between each of the lines of travel of the respective arms and outside the outer lines, abutments 21 are afxed to the floor or Wallin spaced relation approximately 9 inches apart; so that as a cylinder is revolved the arms Will pass between two abutments. been found satisfactory when constructed of sheet metal with the front edge extended at right angles from the floor or wall to apoint near the drum, and in such position they support the cartons and material `to be broken against the blows from the arms.

In order to prevent any portion of the cartons or flat pasteboard from binding or clogging betravel of the arms, and the arms are extended to' Such abutments havev a greater length than the distances between the cylinder and the wall. Thus as the arms are revolved their outer points project through the slots while the bodies of the arms force the cartons against the abutments and break and crush the same into fragments.

In operation the cartons or other materials to be broken are fed down over the sloping floor or wall while the cylinder is being revolved, and are struck by the respective arms successively are partly crushed and broken and carried against the abutments and further broken and shattered into fragments and passed down the chute into suitable bins for baling. As the arms pass through the broken cartons and sever the Y same between the abutments the adjacent portions of the cartons tend to rebound backward where they are struck by the next succeeding arm and partially shattered while hurled against the next abutments. The fragments whenso struck and broken are also cracked and shattered and thev edges frayed insuitable condition for receiving Yacidsand fluids'for pulp for paper stock; and the parts so reduced to fragments suitable for close and solid packing into heavy bales. c f

same power but from the fragments formed with the machine will Weigh approximately 1000 pounds and with 50 packed in a railway car full weight 50,000 pounds can be loaded, while but 15,000 pounds of the bales from unbroken cartons can be loaded in the same size car. The advantages of fully loading a car are very important during the times when the supply of such cars is very limited and the demands for railway trail'ic is excessive, so the economic beneflts of this machine can be readily understood.

" t Having described mjy-invention I claim as new: A breaking device for cardboard and cardboard `-cartons, including a housing having an inlet and an outletfor the material, a partition in the yhousing sloping from the inlet to the outlet and vformed immediately adjacent the outlet with a series of. spaced slots closed at both ends and By the use of such a machine it has been found that the cost of operation in reducing the cartons for reuse is less than half the cost when labor is employed for separately cutting up the material. In compressing unbroken cartons into bales of suitable sizes under a given pressure such bales will weigh only approximately 300 pounds each. Bales with the same dimensions formed with the terminating "short nof the outlet, a series of spaced breakers fixed on the partition between the slots and formed topresent operative ends transverse the'part'itionvin a Aplane between the ends' of the V'inthe partition inrevolution of the drum and past the .operative endsy of the breakers, the

'breakers being' of triangular Vform with their apices; immediately .adjacent Ythe outlet and their operative points adjacent'the `plane of rotation of the ammi;y L g MAX RUSCH. 

